International Women’s Day 2023: Digital equality means offline support
Read moreHappy International Women’s Day 2023! This year’s theme is DigitALL, the hot pursuit of gender equality in global innovation and technology spaces. But digital progress for women is inextricably linked to problems that plague all pursuits of gender equality: Mindsets and stereotypes. In this blog, we’ll explore the relationship between digital equality and offline realities at home.
What it means to bring women and other marginalized groups into the digital tech space
It means more creative solutions and a greater potential for innovations that meet women’s needs, according to UNWomen.org. Women’s lack of meaningful inclusion, on the other hand, comes with huge costs. “Women’s exclusion from the digital world has shaved $1 trillion from the gross domestic product of low- and middle-income countries in the last decade—a loss that will grow to $1.5 trillion by 2025 without action, as reported in the UN Women’s Gender Snapshot 2022 report,
The same report also states reversing this trend is no easy feat. It requires tackling the problem of online violence, of which 38 per cent of women in 51 countries have reported personally experiencing.
Offline support in the pursuit of gender equality in the digital world
Traditional roles tied to cultural beliefs remain tethers to the home front for many women around the world.
As women pursue their own success in the online space, their offline commitments continue to put immense pressure on their time and energy. Housework, including cooking, cleaning and childcare, is still commonly associated with being “female” even in progressive first-world countries like Canada. The grave consequence is less women in STEM, less data sets around women’s needs and experiences, fewer innovations to meet their needs and increased gender-based violence, both online and off.
The bottom line is that the house is shared. The housework must be shared as well.
International Women’s Day 2023
A bright future is in our hands.
Here’s how to manifest it
Right now, women are still a minority in both STEM education and careers. According to latest numbers released by UNWomen.org, women currently represent just:
> 28 per cent of engineering graduates
> 22 per cent of artificial intelligence workers
> Less than ⅓ of tech sector employees globally
Just as some women and girls are encouraged to stay home and tend to the family, stereotypes about who, and who isn’t, suited to STEM play a huge role in discouraging them from pursuing those fields.
So parents, it’s up to you to lead by example, even if you aren’t in the tech industry. It’s up to you to encourage your girls and educate your boys on gender equality in all spaces – the home, the work force and, even more specifically, STEM.
Get all of your kids, no matter their gender identity, to help equally with chores around the house. Expect the same from your partner. And buy your entire family more time to pursue excellence in their area of interest by hiring a pro house cleaner to come in and take over the bulk of the cleaning.
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The Great Bedroom Cleanup: Children’s bedroom organization hacks
Read moreWhat hurts worse than your barefoot meeting a Lego brick? Nothing. Nothing hurts more than that. Don’t wait for spring cleaning to tackle your kids’ bedroom for a deep clean; do it now, on a rainy or snowy weekend, complete with new storage solutions for kids’ rooms specifically. Here’s the Great Bedroom Cleanup Challenge, including several ingenious children’s bedroom organization hacks to make future cleans easier.
Here’s a simple yet comprehensive checklist you can help your kid work through, or hand it over and say “come get me for inspection when every box is ticked” (and yes, scroll down for “print this” button).
Your floor (round 1):
- Pick up any clothes first. If it can be worn again, put it away. If it’s dirty, toss it into the hamper.
- Now pick up toys. Do things in bunches, like all of the Lego first, then the plastic toys, then all the stuffed animals. You can start in one corner and move your way out, too.
- Don’t forget to look under your bed! Socks and random stuff love to roll under there.
Your shelves (one shelf at a time):
- Take all the storage containers and books off your shelves and pile them on the floor.
- Take a cleaning spray and cloth, give your shelves a spritz with the cleaning spray and wipe clean.
- Replace what you want back on your shelves. If something doesn’t actually belong back on that shelf, put it in its proper place and move onto the next shelf.
Your closet:
- Work from the floor up. Start by clearing out the floor by scooping it all into the middle of your room so you can sort through it and put things back where they belong.
- Floor clean? Good. Go through your clothes and pull out clothes you don’t think you’ll wear again, or that are too small. Put these on the bed for Mom and Dad to go through with you.
- Empty out any shelves in your closet, the same way you did other shelves in your room. Wipe down the shelf and put back the things that belong there.
Your dresser (one drawer at a time):
- Clear off the top. You can put this stuff on the floor for a minute.
- Spray the top with cleaning spray and wipe it down.
- Put your stuff back on top!
- Starting with the top drawer, go through your clothes. Socks with holes go in the garbage can. Same with underwear with tears or holes. Clothes you think are too small or that you don’t think you’ll wear go … yup! Put ‘em on the bed for now.
- Put back all the “good-to-go” clothes in the drawers.
The desk area:
- Dump out each desk drawer, one at a time, and pick out all the broken crayons, bits of paper, and errant toys.
- Ask a parent for a file folder or desktop folder holder so you can keep the art you want and recycle anything you don’t have to keep.
- Test each felt pen and ink pen and throw out the dried-out ones.
- Wipe the inside of the drawer using a spray cleaner and cloth.
- Put things back inside the drawer, neat and tidy. Keep same things together (pens with pens, paper with paper, crayons with crayons)
- Use the cleaning spray and a cloth to wipe down the top of your desk and the outside of the drawers.
Your windows:
- Take a damp cloth or what your Mom or Dad likes to use for dusting and clean the window sills. Also run that cloth along the top of the window moulding. Then rinse the cloth and wring it out ‘cuz it’ll probably be gross.
- Grab a glass cleaner spray and a paper towel or cloth from your Mom or Dad. Spritz your windows and wipe ‘til it’s all gone.
Your floor (round 2):
- Grab the vacuum (and broom if you have wood floors. You have to sweep before you can vacuum – and get under that bed!
- Vacuum. Everywhere. Slowly. If you run the vacuum over the floor too quickly, it won’t do its job and Mom or Dad will tell ya to do it again. Trust us.
- Bonus points: Use one of the extension pieces on your vacuum and run it along the top of your baseboards and that spot where your baseboards meet the floor.
Your bed (do this last):
- Call in Mom or Dad to help you go through the clothes that are still there earlier.
- Remove sheets, duvet cover and pillowcases. Chuck ‘em in a laundry hamper.
- Ask for help putting clean sheets on your bed, and getting that duvet back into a clean cover. You can do the pillowcases yourself.
- Make your bed.
- Call it a day. Well done, young padawan.
Smart storage is the key difference between cleaning and maintaining a kids’ bedroom
You’ve tried the “teaching kids to keep their room clean” thing. Like, really tried. But something’s just not sticking so here you are, madly hunting online for ways to not lose your ever-lovin’ mind whenever you catch a glimpse of your kid’s bedroom.
Don’t spend a ton of money on storage containers. Head to Ikea or your dollar store and pick up wooden or plastic bins of different sizes to make sorting easier (and maybe a little fun – a little “toy basketball, perhaps?). Find containers that fit nicely with the depth of existing shelving units. Even better? Find ones with lids.
More children’s bedroom organization hacks to try this weekend
Try these toy organization ideas and decluttering tips for children’s bedrooms:
- Use hanging storage units and use them on the inside of closet doors, and stack fun storage units up a wall (just be sure to affix the units to the wall with brackets for safety!).
- Keep your old coffee cans or large tin cans and make an art project decorating them. Use the to store felt pens on top of a desk for easy access and avoid that disastrous “felt marker” drawer.
- Pick up a few large mesh laundry hampers to use as “stuffy” storage.
- If your child’s bed doesn’t come with built-in drawers or storage, make some! Grab some under-the-bed storage containers and use them for books or toys that get a lot of floor-play. You can even ones with rollers.
- Use this printable bedroom cleanup checklist so you get the most out of your pro house cleaner! Floors have to be free of clutter for an effective clean, so get your child to complete at least the Floor items on the checklist before your cleaning appointment.
What would you add to help organize a child’s bedroom? We’re all ears! It takes a village, after all. Drop your ideas and favourite children’s bedroom organization hacks in the comments!
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